SUMMARY

The Supporters of AZAPO (Azanian People’s Organisation) and the Supporters of ANC (African National Congress) had different ideological views on how apartheid should be ended. Where ANC advocated a non-racial constitution, AZAPO’s members adhered to the Black Consciousness philosophy and stressed black self-reliance in order to fight apartheid. This ideological difference became apparent in 1990, when youth affiliated with the ANC proposed a boycott against an examination at a local high school in Bekkersdal township, 50 kilometers west of Johannesburg, while AZAPO members wanted to continue the examination. This clash of interests led to a violent confrontation between the two groups. Besides ideological motives, control over the township of Bekkersdal is also argued to have been a motivation for the conflict. AZAPO saw ANC’s activities in the town as a ‘campaign to terrorize the community and force people to become ANC supporters’.

The two groups mainly used stones and petrol-bombs when fighting each other. Many of the people who died during the conflict were stabbed to death. Most of the violence occurred in the Bekkersdal township.

The non-state conflict between the Supporters of ANC and the Supporters of AZAPO is first included in UCDP data in 1990. In November of that year, violence between these two supporter groups resulted in at least 25 battle-related deaths.